By IANS,
Ludhiana : Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani Sunday said the “historic” and successful rally of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners here has sent a message to the country that the alliance was a solid one.
Addressing a big gathering in this industrial city of Punjab Sunday with top NDA allies, BJP leaders and chief ministers sharing the stage, Advani said the rally was the biggest event of its kind for the alliance.
“I would say that this rally, called at a short notice, is historic. It is the biggest event of the NDA ever since it was formed in 1998,” said Advani, sporting a saffron turban given to him by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
Visibly happy at the arrival of all top NDA leaders, including Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar, and the successful holding of the event here, Advani said, “This clearly proves that we are united. While the UPA (United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress) has disintegrated, five new parties have joined the NDA. This is not an ordinary thing. This is a big thing.”
Advani accepted that the NDA had got “over-confident” in the 2004 general elections that led to its defeat. “We expect that people will vote for us this time and we will form the next government at the centre,” he added.
“We should not have been defeated but our partymen were over-confident as the whole atmosphere was created by people around us,” he said.
Coming down on the Manmohan Singh government, Advani said, “I have seen at least 15 governments since the first general elections in 1952. I can say that this is the first government which has nothing to show to the people in the name of achievements.”
He said that the UPA government was trying to evade the issue of billions of rupees of black money lying in Swiss banks. “When we form the government, we will bring this money back,” he said.
Lamenting that the Bihar government had not been helped by the centre despite the massive flooding of the Kosi river last year, Advani said, “We are proud that in the six years of our rule, we did not do injustice with any state government.”
He said that the Congress’ ‘aam aadmi’ campaign had “failed miserably”.
Unlike the disintegrated coalition of the UPA, coalition politics between the Akali Dal and Jana Sangh (which later became BJP) started several years back, he said.